Stephen Boy
How popular is Stephen?
#383 boy name in 2025
829 baby boys were named Stephen in the US in 2025, making it the 383rd most popular boy name.
Stephen popularity over time
Boys Girls
| Rank in 2025 | #383 for boys (▼ 9 from 2024) |
|---|---|
| Babies in 2025 | 829 boys |
| 10-year trend | Falling (-45% babies vs 2015) |
| Earlier ranks | #246 in 2015, #322 in 2020 |
| Peak year | 1952 (23,055 boys) |
| Highest rank | #19 in 1949 (3 years at that rank) |
| First recorded | 1880 |
| Boys vs girls (last 10 years) | 100% boys, 0% girls |
| Chance a classmate shares it | 0.6% in a class of 25 kids born in 2025 |
Stephen counting every spelling
Social Security counts each spelling as its own name. Adding together the spellings that sound alike, the Stephen family of names ranked #285 for boys in 2025 (#271 the year before), with 1,217 babies in all.
| Spelling | Boys in 2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Stephen | 829 | 68% |
| Stefan | 219 | 18% |
| Stephan | 86 | 7% |
| Stephon | 46 | 4% |
| Stefon | 16 | 1% |
| Stefen | 8 | 1% |
| Steffen | 5 | 0% |
| Steffan | 8 | 1% |
Spellings are grouped by how they sound, using our own rules, so a few groupings may not match how your family says the name.
Where Stephen is most popular
Babies named Stephen per 1,000 boys born in each state, 2021 to 2025. Darker means more common.
- Massachusetts: 1.1 per 1,000 (156 boys)
- Connecticut: 1.0 per 1,000 (69 boys)
- South Carolina: 1.0 per 1,000 (103 boys)
- Pennsylvania: 1.0 per 1,000 (264 boys)
- West Virginia: 0.9 per 1,000 (31 boys)
Stephen by decade
| Decade | Baby boys | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 1,684 | #81 |
| 1890s | 1,733 | #94 |
| 1900s | 2,247 | #90 |
| 1910s | 13,502 | #80 |
| 1920s | 15,556 | #96 |
| 1930s | 18,272 | #65 |
| 1940s | 106,812 | #19 |
| 1950s | 207,276 | #19 |
| 1960s | 152,240 | #26 |
| 1970s | 107,804 | #27 |
| 1980s | 113,631 | #35 |
| 1990s | 75,160 | #39 |
| 2000s | 28,902 | #95 |
| 2010s | 14,422 | #201 |
| 2020s | 5,498 | #322 |
Boy names about as popular as Stephen
Questions
- Is Stephen a boy or girl name?
- Stephen is mostly a boy name. Over the last 10 years, 100% of babies named Stephen were boys.
- How popular is the name Stephen?
- 829 baby boys were named Stephen in the US in 2025, making it the 383rd most popular boy name.
- When was Stephen most popular?
- Stephen peaked in 1952, when 23,055 boys were given the name. Its highest rank was #19, held for 3 years starting in 1949.
- How many people are named Stephen?
- 867,669 babies have been named Stephen in the US since 1880. We estimate about 653,680 of them are alive in 2026, with a median age of 56.
- Where is Stephen most popular?
- From 2021 to 2025, Stephen was most common in Massachusetts, at 1.1 of every 1,000 boys born there.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880 to 2025 (names given to at least 5 babies of a sex in a year). Living-people and median-age figures are our estimates using US life tables. How we calculate.